LETTERS

School Administrator, Oct, 1995

Useful Analogies

BY CHRISTOPHER J. LAUZEN

State Senator, 21st Legislative District, Geneva, Illinois

* I found "Educational Transformation" by Stephanie Pace Marshall (January 1995) many times more helpful to understanding where we need to be and what we need to become than anything I've read.

Marshall shed a light on my biggest intellectual frustration of the last several years when she said it's not necessarily true "that analysis will inevitably lead to synthesis." Regrettably, this faulty belief leads to numerous case studies on individual issues and components of the Illinois revenue system rather than a comprehensive look at the whole. What I'm really searching for is how to allocate resources to education among various Illinois regions.

Or it results in a car trunk full of books, articles, and scraps of paper relating to issues like worker's compensation reform, unemployment insurance improvements, tax policy impact on job creation, and the role of technology in global competitiveness. What I'm really searching for is how to provide a climate where the private sector can create more jobs paying higher wages.

Marshall hits the nail on the head; I possess the parts but am miles away from understanding the whole.

She talks about the ability to be leaders, not only in educational transformation but also in good government transformation. I know that we're not talking about "moving boxes on an organization chart." It's easy to apply her thoughts in a political context. For instance, "What are the sources of the order we wish to create and where do they come from in a world that seems to be spinning in to chaos?" Then, "How will we create coherence, integration, and purpose in our community?"

Jefferson, Adams, and Morris divined the "strange attractors" in the Newtonian political system of the 18th century. Who will come to understand "our nonlinear, adaptive dynamic and pattern-seeking world of inherent order, interconnections, and potential."

The dinosaur in me laughed when Marshall wrote, "If you are not totally confounded about what to do about this, then you don't understand the problem!"

I hope we can find the "simple rules" for a modern political age.

A Gifted Resource

BY JOSEPH S. RENZULLI

Director, National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

* Your April issue is an excellent resource on gifted education, and I have ordered multiple copies for use with persons who participate in my courses and workshops.

A Welcome Offer

BY DEE G. WOOD

Program Specialist, West Orange County Consortium for Special Education, Huntington Beach, California

* As a program specialist in special education, I am intimately involved with the paradigm shift of re-evaluating current school structure and planning for a new, brighter future.

So I took particular interest in your March issue, where Rep. William Goodling concluded his Viewpoint column by inviting educators to be a part of an open, ongoing, thoughtful, and constructive discussion about reshaping the federal role in education policy.

I intend to participate in the congressman's request for our input.

Distorted Profile

BY CRAIG MEHRMANN

* As a member of the 1944 graduating class at the Milton Hershey School who lives in Hershey, Pa., I want to take exception to several claims made in the profile about Bill Lepley, the school's president, that ran in your May issue.

Most importantly, current efforts to integrate academics and vocational instruction are moving the school away from its beginnings as a farm operation as established in a Deed of Trust from founder Milton S. Hershey. For all practical purposes, the agriculture philosophy is not followed.

The school's claim that only eight of 103 members of a recent graduating class did not have immediate plans for college sounds great, but the administration will not release figures to show the number of students that dropped out of college. The Deed of Trust specifically requires a record be kept of each student for a 10-year period after their departure.

Finally, Lepley's vision of the Hershey School serving as a preeminent laboratory for educating students at risk is the work of a staunch liberal.